U19 NPL Match Report – Round 3: London Pulse 61 Severn Stars 34
January 7th 2023 written by Sophia Shalabi
After a well-rested Christmas break London Pulse U19 were excited to host their 3rd game of the season at the Copper Box for the first time.
They were coming into the game with 2 wins, so spirits were highand players were raring to go. Pulse faced a strong Seven Stars side who had a very close game against Loughborough Lighting before
Christmas, so they knew it wasn’t going to be an easy win.
The starting seven was as follows:
GS- Hannah A
GA- Hannah G
WA- Hannah K
C- Sophia S
WD- Ellie S
GD- Izzi P
GK- Tami F
Bench – Sasha H, Coco W, Daisy B, Indi O, Alice O.
Pulse had the task of coming out hard from the blocks and getting a big score in the first quarter. This started off well with a full team effort getting a held ball in the first few minutes, meaning pulse were
up in the first few minutes. But Stars fought back, and the score was tight. However, doubt was never in the Pulse’s minds. Energy from the side line and great feeds from attack meant they managed to gain a healthy lead after the first quarter with shooting stats from the shooters being over 80%. Pulse went into the second
quarter with a 18-9 score line.
Q2 changes – Sasha H comes into WD.
Pulse had a flying start to the second quarter and continued to show their speed and flare down court and grit and determination in defence which lead to many turnovers, and Pulse knew they had capitalised on more of their hard work and they certainly did.
Coming out of the second quarter and the score being 36-16 meant Pulse has a healthy 20 goal lead to Stars
Q3 changes – Alice O to centre, Izzi P to WD, Sasha H to GD and Indi
O coming on to WD with a couple minutes left in the quarter meant Izzi P went to GD and Sasha H GK.
Quarter 3 saw Pulse continue to push on to make sure they maintained their lead. With lots of great patience from attack once again. And as per usual defence were turning over countless balls
making it hard for Stars to find the goals. At the end of the third quarter the score was 50-25.
Q4 changes – Alice 0 WA, Hannah K WA.
Pulse never took their foot off the pedal and kept pushing through the last quarter. Daisy B had her debut in the U19 environment and showed great strength and speed at WA. And Coco W came on at GS hoping to continue well from the last match against Mavericks, and she certainly did, getting 100% in her shooting stats.
Final score at full time was 61-34.
Player of the match went to Hannah A for her incredible shooting
and availability in the circle. She had an overall 88% shooting stats scoring majority of the goals for pulse.
Thank you to Severn Stars for a well contested game and also to the umpires and officials.
This was a great performance after the Christmas break but still lots to work on for Pulse before their next game where they face Northeast on February 4th !